The present invention relates to data entry systems, and more particularly, this invention relates to entering data with complex formatting.
Data entry in technical applications, such as those used by information technology administrators, often involves entering fields with complex formatting, such as internet protocol (IP) addresses or operating system installation keys. As the complexity of the data to be entered increases, the chance for human error when entering that data increases.
In some cases, this may be avoided by using a copy and paste operation. However, the user interface being implemented may not always allow pasting of all of the data. For example, in the context of IP addresses, if a separate text box is used for each octet of the IP address, the user may be forced to manually key in each value. If, on the other hand, a single text box is used, pasting in a value may be possible at the expense of readability.